Method of utilizing worn-out railroad or like spiral steel springs.



PATENTED JAN. 9, 1906.

J. BERGMANN.

METHOD OF UTILIZING WORN-OUT RAILROAD OR LIKE SPIRAL STEEL SPRINGS.

APPLICATION FILED MAE. 9, 1904.

TINITEE STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JOHN BERGMANN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF UTILIZING WORN-OUT RAILROAD 0R LIKE SPIRAL STEEL SPRINGS.

No. 809,66 i.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1906.

Application filed March 9, 1904:. Serial No. 197,256-

To (.tl IU/Z/O'III/ it 'ntag concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN BERGMANN, a resident of Iittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have in vented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Utilizing WVorn-Out Railroad or Like Spiral Steel Springs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to the utilization of worn-out railroad or like spiral steel springs. These springs, though made of high-priced steel, have on account of their coiled shape been heretofore considered as having no value except for remelting, and have commanded a low price as steel-scrap. By my invention I am enabled to form from the same steel bars without the necessity of such remelting, and as such steel bars command a high price I am enabled at small cost to bring the worn-out or scrap springs to desirable merchantable form.

To these ends my invention consists in reheating such worn-out or scrap coiled springs, straightening one end thereof, and feeding it to suitable rolls, and thereby rolling it when so heated into straight bar form, the steel bars being rolled into any desired sections or by subsequent hammering brought to merchantable form, according to the uses to which the same are to be put.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of a furnace and set of rolls suitable for the practice of the invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the rolls; Fig. 3, a view of the coiled spring; Fig. 4, a View of the spring ready for feeding to the rolls, and Fig. 5 a view of the bar produced.

For the practice of my invention any suitable apparatus may be employed, that illustrated being considered the most desirable. The heating-furnace 2 may be of any suitable type, and it is located at sufficient proximity to the roll-train 3 for the rolling of the heated worn-out springs. I have illustrated the rolltrain as composed of a three-high mill of grooved rolls. In said train the rolls 5 6 7 are geared together for suitable driving, and, as shown, they have grooved passes of different diameters or sections in the plant best suited for the purpose, the passes being made of difi'erent sizes to suit the difl'erent sections of bar from which the springs are formed and to which they are to be rolled, the rolls shown having the passes S for this purpose. In order to feed the springs to these rolls, I find it desirable to provide a suitable holder for the heated spring which will permit of the turning of the same as 1t 1s drawn into the rollpass and for that purpose have illustrated the spring-support 9 having a vertical standard 10, carrying a suitable sleeve or spool 11, over which the heated spring is placed, the spool permitting the free turning of the spring during rolling. I11 order to reach the different passes of the rolls and to provide for the feeding of the heated springs thereto, I prefer to employ the apparatus illustrated, the spring-support being mounted upon a carrier 12, supported on suitable guides 13, extending across between the housings 14, so that the carrier can be moved to bring the spring-support 9 into proper line with any of the roll-passes. The spring-support slides in the carrier 12 toward and from the rolls, said mechanism providing for the reception of the heated spring upon the spool 11 and the forcing of the same forward to feed the end of the spring into the roll-pass. For this purpose I prefer to provide on the carrier 12 a suitable roll-guide 15, which is adjusted by the lateral adjustment of the carrier 12 along the guideway 13, so as to provide for the proper feeding of the end of the spring to the rollpass. It is evident, however, that any suitable apparatus for the proper feeding of the heated springs to the roll-passes can be employed.

In the practice of the invention with the apparatus above described the worn-out or scrap coiled steel springs are raised in the furnace to a proper rolling heat, and they are then withdrawn from the furnace, and being grasped by suitable tongs one end of the spring 16 is bent out to form the straightened portion 17 to feed to the rolls before or after the spring is placed upon the spool 11 or as part of the operation of feeding the spring to the rolls. The spring is usually placed over the spool in such position that the lower end of the coiled spring shall be fed to the rolls, the sliding spring-support 9 being drawn out from the rolls for this purpose, and as soon as the spring is dropped over the spool while it is held in proper position the sliding support is pushed forward toward the rolls with sufficient force to feed the straightened end 17 of the spring 16 into the roll-pass. The spring while so supported is thus pushed bodily toward the rolls, and in that way the straightened end of the coiled spring is fed into the rolls. In this way of handling the small springs while in coiled form can through the bodily movement of the spring be properly fed into the rolls for subsequent straightening and reduction. As soon as the rolls, which are driven at suitable speed, grasp the straightened end portion 17 of the coiled spring it is evident that they will draw the same through the rolls, the spring being rotated with the spool 11 around the standard, and in this way the spring while heated and ductile being drawn out from coiled form into straight bar form, the spring being reduced in section during such rolling as may be nec essary. The straight steel bar so obtained may then at the same heat be fed to other passes of the rolls and rolled to any desired shape or section, or the bar so produced can be subsequently reheated and hammered for the purpose of producing hammered bars to be used for tool or other purposes, the bar being utilized in anysuitable way, according to the quality of the steel. It may of course be subsequently reheated and -coiled to form springs of smaller section. I am in this way enabled to produce at low cost (simply at the cost of reheating and rolling) from worn-out or scrap-steel springs steel bars, which on account of the high quality of steel required in the ordinary railroad-springs are of large commercial value.

springs have on account of the supposed im possibility of other uses been heretofore utilized by remelting, they have had but low As these coiled railroadvalue as scrap; but by my invention I am errabled to produce from them bars which either by rolling or hammering can be brought to forms commanding a high price in the trade.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described method of utilizing worn-out or scrap coiled steel springs or like articles, consisting in heating the coils, straightening one end thereof and feeding the coil bodily toward suitable reducing-rolls until the straightened end thereof enters the same, and thereby drawing out the coil to straight bar form and reducing it in section.

2. The herein-described method of utilizing worn-out or scrap coiled steel springs or like articles, consisting in heating the coil, straightening one end thereof, and while so supporting the coil as to permit rotation thereof, feeding it bodily toward suitable reducing-rolls until the straightened end thereof enters the same, and thereby while the coil is rotated drawing it out to straight bar form and reducing it in section.

In testimony whereof I, the said JOHN BERGMANN, have hereunto set my hand.

' JOHN BERGMANN.

Witnesses:

ROBERT C. TOTTEN, G. C. RAYMOND. 

